greetings from the job site

i just finished some packaged veggie sushi from the market down the street, a short stroll through this lovely little neighborhood in tokyo's shinjuku ward, where i'm living for the next six weeks. i had to get out of the house and buy sushi because, sitting in front of my laptop reviewing the scope of my job, i had my 'what the hell am i doing here?' moment that happens every time i arrive at my latest job site. this time around, i'm researching two assignments at once, and this is as good a reason as any for me to panic a little. but if this 'career' of mine has been all about biting off more than i can chew, well, at least i haven't choked yet. see how optimistic i am?

but being back in japan is supremely wonderful. the smells wafting from tiny eateries, vendors welcoming shoppers with elaborate 'irrasshaimase!' greetings, the cars and motorbikes driving on the left, the old ladies, the men in puffy pants doing roadwork, everything feels totally familiar if also somehow inaccessible. eavesdropping on everything, i can understand most of what my ears catch, except for difficult vocabulary and complex ideas. i've never had to navigate on my own in japan, but it's been easy (he he, they don't know i got lost in shinjuku station all four times i've been through there... oops, i guess i just wrote that out loud...) only because the signs are written out in english as well as in kanji.

i got slammed with exhaustion during the train ride from the airport, but that was soon remedied by arriving at shinjuku station, where i walked up one level to get swept into what looked like a human version of six schools of herring all converging on the spot at once, darting around each other without colliding. it was like saigon traffic, but cleaner and with no honking. after visiting my rental office to get a key and pay my rent—and to receive photocopied instructions on how to separate and put out the trash on four separate days of the week—i hauled myself onto another train (after getting lost in the station, of course, and then buying a ticket for the wrong line) and walked up to this gaijin guesthouse. it's small, nestled in a quiet neighborhood down a little alley, and i've got a huge room with wood floors, a big window, an ADSL internet connection, and most importantly, a bed. which i soon fell to worshipping for a good nine hours.

so yesterday and today i've done a little shopping for food, for a computer cable, for odds and ends, and spent my travel time checking everyone out. the gauzy skirts over pants thing is varied and everywhere; rarer are dreads and puffy afros; and everyone is into cell phone accessories—most people have little charms and straps hanging off their phones, and everywhere you turn, they're sitting around or walking—still avoiding collisions—with their thumbs texting away intently.

i'll start working tomorrow. got any tokyo tips for me? please send 'em on.

mata ne!
(till later...)